path: root/usr/src/man/man1/nice.1

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.TH NICE 1 "Jan 23, 2004"
.SH NAME
nice \- invoke a command with an altered scheduling priority
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
\fB/usr/bin/nice\fR [\fB-\fIincrement\fR\fR | \fB-n\fR \fIincrement\fR] \fIcommand\fR
     [\fIargument\fR]...
.fi

.LP
.nf
\fB/usr/xpg4/bin/nice\fR [\fB-\fIincrement\fR\fR | \fB-n\fR \fIincrement\fR] \fIcommand\fR
     [\fIargument\fR]...
.fi

.SS "csh Builtin"
.LP
.nf
\fBnice\fR [\fB-\fIincrement\fR\fR | +\fIincrement\fR] [\fIcommand\fR]
.fi

.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
.LP
The \fBnice\fR utility invokes \fBcommand\fR, requesting that it be run with a
different system scheduling priority. The \fBpriocntl\fR(1) command is a more
general interface to scheduler functions.
.sp
.LP
The invoking process (generally the user's shell) must be in a scheduling class
that supports \fBnice\fR.
.sp
.LP
If the C shell (see \fBcsh\fR(1)) is used, the full path of the command must be
specified. Otherwise, the \fBcsh\fR built-in version of \fBnice\fR will be
invoked. See \fBcsh Builtin\fR below.
.sp
.LP
If \fBnice\fR executes commands with arguments, it uses the default shell
\fB/usr/bin/sh\fR (see \fBsh\fR(1)).
.SS "csh Builtin"
.sp
.LP
\fBnice\fR is also a \fBcsh\fR built-in command with behavior different from
the utility versions.  See \fBcsh\fR(1) for description.
.SH OPTIONS
.sp
.LP
The following options are supported:
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB-\fR\fIincrement\fR | \fB-n\fR \fIincrement\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 29n
\fIincrement\fR is a positive or negative decimal integer that has the same
effect on the execution of the utility as if the utility had called the
\fBnice()\fR function with the numeric value of the \fIincrement\fR
option-argument. See \fBnice\fR(2). \fBnice()\fR errors, other than
\fBEINVAL\fR, are ignored. If not specified, an increment of \fB10\fR is
assumed.
.sp
The super-user may run commands with priority higher than normal by using a
negative increment such as \fB-10\fR\&. A negative \fIincrement\fR assigned by
an unprivileged user is ignored.
.RE

.SH OPERANDS
.sp
.LP
The following operands are supported:
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fIcommand\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 12n
The name of a command that is to be invoked. If \fIcommand\fR names any of the
special built-in utilities (see \fBshell_builtins\fR(1)), the results are
undefined.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fIargument\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 12n
Any string to be supplied as an argument when invoking \fIcommand\fR.
.RE

.SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
.sp
.LP
See \fBenviron\fR(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of \fBnice\fR: \fBLANG\fR, \fBLC_ALL\fR,
\fBLC_CTYPE\fR, \fBLC_MESSAGES\fR, \fBPATH\fR, and \fBNLSPATH\fR.
.SH EXIT STATUS
.sp
.LP
If \fIcommand\fR is invoked, the exit status of \fBnice\fR will be the exit
status of \fIcommand\fR. Otherwise, \fBnice\fR will exit with one of the
following values:
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB1-125\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 9n
An error occurred.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB126\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 9n
\fIcommand\fR was found but could not be invoked.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB127\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 9n
\fIcommand\fR could not be found.
.RE

.SH ATTRIBUTES
.sp
.LP
See \fBattributes\fR(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
.SS "/usr/bin/nice"
.sp

.sp
.TS
box;
c | c
l | l .
ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
_
CSI	Enabled
.TE

.SS "/usr/xpg4/bin/nice"
.sp

.sp
.TS
box;
c | c
l | l .
ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
_
CSI	Enabled
_
Interface Stability	Standard
.TE

.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
.LP
\fBcsh\fR(1), \fBksh\fR(1), \fBnohup\fR(1), \fBpriocntl\fR(1), \fBsh\fR(1),
\fBshell_builtins\fR(1), \fBnice\fR(2), \fBattributes\fR(5), \fBenviron\fR(5),
\fBstandards\fR(5)